A Warm Place
by AyumaKasaga
Summary: 'Haru sighed, feeling at ease and absolutely fuzzy inside. He couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.' Happy birthday, Haru-chan-san!


Today, Haru turned eighteen years old.

It didn't feel any different than the other three hundred and sixty four days out of the year. It was a hot summer day, and Haru woke up in his room, the same old, maybe a little stuffier since he closed his window before he went to bed. His mother and father had called him, and it was nice to hear from them. They surprised him by telling him they would be coming in that weekend, and they could do whatever Haru wanted. It made Haru happy, and he smiled and thanked his mother quietly for the birthday wishes, and told them that he would see the two of them this weekend.

He spent his morning doing everything slowly, carefully, savoring the quiet. He hadn't really had the opportunity to talk to any of his friends, but assuming they had forgotten about his birthday was probably an incorrect assumption. He wasn't sure what they were planning, but he knew they were planning _something_.

He decided to go to the beach and jog before he took a bath; the weather was really nice today. Before he left, he stopped at the shrine dedicated to his grandmother, kneeling and saying a little prayer to her.

"Only a couple more years until I'm normal," he muttered, smiling before standing and approaching the door.

After his jog, he spent a long time in the bath. He only got out because his fingers and toes were really prune-y, and he was getting anxious. Where were his friends? What were they scheming for today?

Just as his thoughts began, a knock sounded at the front door.

"Haru-chaaan!" Nagisa called from the other side of the door, and Haru thought, '_finally_', and opened the door, to find Nagisa, and only Nagisa, standing at his front door, smiling brightly.

"Haru-chan! Good morning!" he greeted, stepping forward to wrap Haru into an affectionate, softer-than-usual hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you, Nagisa," he replied quietly, awkwardly offering Nagisa a couple pats on the back, "What do you need?"

"I need you to come with me!" he sounded far too excited, and Haru gave him a wary look.

"Um-?" is all Haru got out before Nagisa was tugging him out the door, and Haru was just too relaxed and confused to protest.

Nagisa had dragged him into town, saying they had some shopping to do. And there apparently was a _lot_ of shopping to do. They stopped by the convenience store and picked up a few bags of chips, some paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware, then went to the grocery store where Nagisa picked up a bag of candy and a couple half-gallons of ice cream. Nagisa's phone went off when they were at the cash register, and he answered.

"Ah, Rei-chan! ...Yep! Haru-chan and I are just finishing up at the grocery store!" he paid the cashier and thanked her, picking up a couple bags while Haru got the rest, "Thank you, Haru-chan! Okay, Rei-chan! We'll be there soon!" he flipped his phone shut, and urged Haru to hurry up, and Haru sighed tiredly.

They ended up at Haru's house, Nagisa insisting that Haru stay outside for '_just a minute_!' and went inside with all the bags. Haru wasn't a _total_ idiot, and he figured from the moment Nagisa arrived on his doorstep that something was up. But he still jumped slightly when the lights went on in his dining room and everyone shouted "SURPRISE!" at the top of their lungs, loud popping accompanied by streamers fluttering gently onto Haru's head and shoulders.

"Happy birthday, Haru!" Makoto said with a happy grin, and Nagisa cheered, wrapping Haru in another hug. Everyone joined him this time, Haru being assaulted from all sides by all his friends in a large group hug.

"You guys…" Haru blinked at the table, where the group had prepared mackerel and pineapple, bowls of other snacks scattered about the table. "…You did all this for me?"

"Of course, Haruka-senpai!" Rei said, pushing up his glasses, "It would be rude of us to even consider not doing anything for your birthday!"

"C'mon, Haruka-senpai!" Gou pushed him towards his seat, "Let's hurry up and eat so you can open your presents!"

Haru sat in between Makoto and Rin, while Nagisa, Rei, and Gou sat across from them, and Haru felt a little disgruntled at how loud the three of them could be. Rin had shouted multiple times for them to '_shut the hell up and eat the damn mackerel'_ and to '_quit being so damn loud and annoying'_, but it rarely worked.

The mackerel was delicious, and they cleared off the table so Haru could open his presents.

"Ooh, me first, me first!" Nagisa cried, placing a large box in front of Haru. Haru tugged at the bow and lifted the lid to find a large plush dolphin.

"Oh," Haru breathed, stroking it thoughtfully, "Thank you, Nagisa. It's wonderful."

"Yaaay! You're welcome, Haru-chan! I love you!" Nagisa sat down from where he was standing behind Haru to hug him and nuzzle his head against his cheek.

"Mine next, i-if you will, Haruka-senpai!" Rei stuttered, bowing and shoving his present in Haru's face. Haru took it gingerly in his hands, peeling away the wrapping paper to find a sketchbook and a package of sketching pencils.

"Thank you, Rei," Haru gave him a soft smile, "I've been needing a new book for a while."

"Wooow, Rei-chan, you didn't mess up!" Nagisa teased, and Rei pushed up his glasses, flustered.

"O-Of course I didn't! I would never!"

"Whatever, nerd, it's my turn," Rin smirked while Rei squawked at him, handing Haru a thin envelope. Haru accepted it and opened it carefully. Inside were two tickets to the local aquarium.

"Ah," Haru smiled, "Tickets to the aquarium. Thank you, Rin."

"Yeah, yeah. We'll go tomorrow, okay?" Haru nodded, tucking the tickets back into the envelope. "We're going to the shark exhibit first, though." Haru rolled his eyes.

"This is from me, Haruka-senpai!" Gou smiled, handing Haru a scrapbook. Everyone gathered around as Haru exhaled, flipping through to find a bunch of pictures of him and his friends, the pages decorated with cut out shapes and cute stickers.

"Thank you, Kou," he mumbled, lost in the memories, "This is wonderful."

"Heeey, that's from the training camp!" Nagisa pointed at the picture of him and Haru with their goggles on, "That's my favorite picture of us, Haru-chan!"

"Look, this was when we went to the beach and Rei dropped his hot dog in the sand!" Rin chortled, pointing to the picture of a confused looking Haru and a horribly distressed Rei looking at a hot dog that ended up face down in the sand.

"Poor Rei-kun!" Gou laughed, patting Rei's shoulder.

"Ah," Makoto piped up, handing Haru his present, "and this one is from me, Haru." Haru handed Rin the scrapbook so the rest of them could keep looking through while he opened Makoto's present.

There was new pair of jammers, and when he unfolded them, his fingers brushed against something hard. He picked up a picture frame, and he inhaled sharply.

In the frame was a picture of all of them in the pool, Haru smiling softly in the center, Rin standing to his left while he grinned brightly, his right arm around Haru's shoulders and his left arm wrapped around Gou, who was grinning brightly and flashing the peace sign. Makoto was to Haru's right, caught in the middle of a laugh, his right hand resting on Nagisa's shoulder. Nagisa and Rei were in front of Haru, Nagisa grinning brightly and flexing his right arm while his left arm was hanging off of Rei's shoulder. Rei was grinning almost as wide as Nagisa.

"Ah, I remember that day!" Gou said, smiling widely, "That was the day after the tournament when we all went for a swim at the pool!"

"Thank you," Haru said softly, "Thank you, everyone. Really. This was an amazing birthday."

"Haru-chaaan-!" Nagisa sniffled, bursting into happy tears and wrapping Haru into yet another hug. "I-I haven't seen you smile this much-this much since the tournament-!" he blubbered, "H-Happy birthday, H-Haru-chaaaan!" Everyone laughed at Nagisa's over-dramatics, but they all went in to hug Haru as well, and Haru smiled, closing his eyes.

It was warm.

"We love you, Haru," Makoto said, his words reverberating against Haru's neck, "Happy birthday."

Haru sighed, feeling at ease and absolutely fuzzy inside.

He couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.

* * *

and then they all partied into the night and all of them passed out in Haru's living room and everyone was cuddled around Haru in a protective little circle. ~(;w;)~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE LITTLE PISSBABY (^3^)

I'm just really emotional today is Haru's birthday and Free! Eternal Summer is coming in two days AND I'M JUST SO HAPPY. I want everyone to kiss Haru right on the forehead and give him all da cuddles.

BUT YEAH THAT IS ALL HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARU. The title of this fic comes from the Nine Inch Nails song, A Warm Place. (I've been on a huge Nine Inch Nails kick, don't kill my vibe)


End file.
